Malaysian engineer breaks barriers to win internationally-recognised SAE Young Industry Leadership Award

KUALA LUMPUR, June 27 — Being a leader is no walk in the park, especially in a foreign country while leading the discussion at the forefront of new technologies.

But no matter how hard it gets, it is still not impossible for one to excel and Malaysian-born engineer, Umar Zakir Abdul Hamid is proof of this.

Umar, who is currently based in Sweden, has been in the future mobility industry for a decade now and has worked on over 30 projects involving driverless technology, robotics, automotive software and digital systems for electric vehicles.

Amongst his most significant work was his contribution to Finnish autonomous driving startup company, Sensible 4, where he was part of a team that has raised over €15 million (RM76 million) in investments and revenue for the company.

With over 30 published scientific papers while actively participating in global automotive standardisation efforts, Umar is known to be a thought leader in the industry.

And for his efforts, he was recently awarded the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Foundation/ Denso Young Industry Leadership Award which took place at the Henry Ford Museum in Michigan, US.

SAE International is a professional association and standards development organisation for the engineering industry, with a special focus on transport sectors such as automotive, aerospace and commercial vehicles.

They are known for coming up with the current standard regulations and recommendations for most vehicles in the world and Umar is the Secretary for their International Cooperative Driving Automation Committee.

The SAE Young Leadership Award aims to promote careers in the engineering community by shedding light on men and women with less than 12 years of experience in the engineering industry who had shown significant career achievements.

Getting the SAE Young Industry Leadership Award

According to Umar, the SAE Young Industry Leadership Award is like the Grammys of the engineering world. — Picture courtesy of SAE Foundation

Umar told Malay Mail that he was surprised to find out about the magnitude of the award.

“All praise to Him. I was surprised. This award is like the Grammy’s of the engineering world. I didn’t expect it to be this big.

“I’m technically sitting at the same table with the CEO of Ford Motor Company, Jim Farley, who was awarded the SAE Foundation Industry Leadership Award at the same event, “ Umar said.

The Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s alumni who’s currently the senior lead strategist at China Euro Vehicle Technology AB (CEVT AB) also admitted that he was touched to get the recognition especially as a South-East Asian which can be considered a minority in the industry leadership.

CEVT AB is part of the Chinese electric vehicle maker Zeekr and Geely Group.

“It’s interesting indeed. Being a South-East Asian working in a European market under a Chinese company has given me an in-depth global context.

“They do see us and it feels good to be appreciated, to know that people acknowledge our talent in the industry.

“This kind of achievement doesn’t come by so easily and let this be proof to others that people like us, the minorities, can also make it in this industry,” he said.

Umar also admitted that being in the industry has its own challenges as he has to brave through bias and prejudices aimed towards him.

He added that aside from striving to grow and being proactive in his career’s journey, these challenges also play a role in pushing him to go further.

“We need to understand that, if one person can’t recognise our talent, there’s maybe 20 more out there who will.

“So when it comes to prejudices, it’s important to keep in mind that these assumptions do not measure our abilities.

“That’s why I always believe in meritocracy. We need to have as many merits as possible. That’s the only way you can break these walls of prejudices,” Umar said.

A leader in the software driven 21st Century

Umar was excited to finally get to meet with the Ford Motor Company's CEO Jim Farley. — Picture courtesy of Umar Zakir Abdul Hamid

According to Umar, a team plays a crucial role when it comes to leading and recalling his time at Sensible 4 in Finland, where he had led a team of 12 autonomous vehicle experts, assembling them is one of the main challenges.

“Since we’re a startup company, we have limited resources so we couldn’t hire all these top guns in the industry. So, we’ve used the former Arsenal football manager, Arsene Wenger’s approach which is by going for young budding talents.

“But the challenge is that, during the hiring process, even we ourselves would have our own prejudices against these candidates

“It’s important to be open and instead of sticking with hiring talents that know what we’ve already known, it’s easier to find the right candidates by hiring those who actually have the right requirement for the position,” Umar said.

He added that the new generation of workforce has also changed the nature of leadership as the younger generation appreciates leaders who are more empathetic and transparent.

“Be human. Show vulnerability, even business schools nowadays are saying that the future of leadership is vulnerable leaders instead of the traditional cocky micromanaging types.

“The more you show transparency and vulnerability, ironically, people will be more motivated to stay loyal to your company and contribute.”

He added that micromanaging people could likely result in employees leaving a company.

He said trust and communication also played an important role when it cane to leading a team.